On ridiculous book vendors, Disney magic, and why I can't hate Dobby

Today's book

My day

11:30am
Less than perfect start to the day this morning.  I was up in good time, after a bizarre dream in which I was on holiday with my family and... Matt Smith.  Not sure where that came from, but it was fun!  I had breakfast and read a chunk of HP2 - not a full chapter this time - before realising I had to get my ass in gear and get ready to head out for a book pick-up en route to work.  Already running five minutes late (*coughs and blushes*), we then got stuck behind the world's slowest driver coming into town, got lost finding the woman's house, and found her already chomping at the bit to get rid of us again.

Now, it is a truth universally acknowledged that people tweak the truth when they want you to buy their books.  "All in nearly new condition" means "well read and possibly slightly chewed by the family dog".  "Just two little boxes" means "six boxes because we magically sneaked some more in before we set off".  "Good non-fiction books" can occasionally mean "bought from a charity shop in 1978 and left to rot in the garage since 1985".  Let's just say that it's always a nice surprise when we get a truthful description from a potential seller! 

This morning's woman had said all of these things:  "Pay for what you need right now stock-wise, and I'll donate the rest because I need the space.  I've got two suitcases but they're too heavy to lift so if you could pick them up that'd be great.  Thursday at 9am works for me."  What she MEANT was: "You buy books?  Oh good, you can pay for them all then.  I've got two suitcases, one of which is too heavy to lift, and I want them back immediately.  I'm already late for a dog-walking rendezvous with a friend, so hurry the fuck up."  It was bedlam.  Mud everywhere.  I got my finger sliced open by something, I'm not sure what.  She wanted us to empty the cases straight into the car (whaaaaaat?), then changed her mind halfway through the first one.  She stood shouting from the doorway, reeling off a list of activities that would stop her retrieving these giant cases for a few days, while we huffed and puffed trying to get them into the car, thought miserably about our tiny crammed office, and generally were Not Impressed.

Fortunately she didn't hedge too much when I called her with a price an hour later (Mum made me do it and I HATED it, I'm such a wimp), she turned up within another hour to pick up her uber-cases, and was quite apologetic about going into headless chicken mode this morning.  I think we clawed our way back into each other's mutual good books with extra-friendliness and some smiling, and we rounded off our interaction with a very brief but cheery chat about how lovely Chatsworth looks in the sunlight of a winter's morning.  Diplomacy is a beautiful thing, and all's well that ends well.  Now I just need to price up as many of the books as possible and get them out on the shelves, because we have another six boxes to go through at a regular-pick up tomorrow!  :(


8:30pm
Yeaaaaaaah.  So, I basically didn't read a single page at work today.  Unless you count the many little Disney hardback storybooks that came into the shop this morning, that is.  I read about ten of them - all the good ones, like Bambi, Sleeping Beauty and The Little Mermaid.  :)

I HAVE, however, finished this morning's chapter of HP, and another one after THAT, since I got home, while I ate some yummy tuna mayo and sweetcorn cobs and coffee and *cough* maybe one or two peanut M'n'Ms.  Mmmmm, peanut M'n'Ms...  And now I'm being distracted looking at Disney GIFs and listening to the complete Harry Potter score playlist I found on YouTube.  John Williams is a frickin' genius.  Every time I hear that main theme, or the tinkling prologue, I get goosebumps.  And speaking of Potter - I HAVE THOUGHTS about these chapters.  Like the fact that Lockhart can't even shut up about being a brilliant Quidditch player, which to me shifts him beyond 'egotistical maniac trying to get ahead in his career' and into 'plain old compulsive liar'.  And THEN there's Dobby.  How can anyone hate the little dude when he's crying on Harry's bed in the hospital wing?  Seriously.  That's like hating Bambi or something.  I honestly think it's the voice in the movies that annoys me so much (the Jar Jar Binks Effect), but in the books you don't HEAR the voice, he just weeps and tells Harry he's the hero of the house elves and that he'd do anything to protect him.  ALL THE DOBBY FEELS, PEOPLE.  ALL OF THEM.

So, I was planning on watching Elementary at 9 o'clock, because the first episode was on PickTV this time a week ago and that's usually how TV works, but it's apparently not on.  Was it on every day and I missed it?  How does PickTV do these things exactly?  I dunno.  Maybe I should have paid more attention.  Since it's NOT on, I guess maybe I can use the next few minutes to read a bit more instead!  Another early morning tomorrow, so I reckon I'll just get in bed with my book and wait to fall asleep.  God, I am so rock and roll, sometimes I wonder how I stand it.  Night muffins!